Member Profile: Ione

by Marla Khan-Schwartz

“Even though you don't consider breast cancer a blessing,” Ione explains, “Had I not had breast cancer, I would have never had the opportunity to meet these people.”

For Ione, finding positive support following her breast cancer treatments was a priority. After joining a traditional therapy group, she decided she needed a different environment to heal. 

At the time, she worked as a nurse with special education students and found the Dragon Divas after a co-worker, who is also now a Dragon Diva, recommended they paddle with other survivors. The first experience was everything Ione had hoped for.

“It was so supportive,” she reflects. “It was still showing women they should really take charge of their lives and be physically active. I was just hooked.” 

That was 2007. Now one of the longest paddling veterans of the Dragon Divas, she says the group has given her and other women a positive way to not only work together, but work in an environment that encourages serenity while promoting healthy physical activity.

“There is just something so healing about being in that atmosphere with the water and the wind," Ione says.

Ione says the Dragon Divas has given her the chance to meet life-long friends. Although the experiences and stories shared amongst the team are unique, the commonality of being a breast cancer survivor allows conversations with women who understand each other.

“You're surrounded with people who get it and who know what we've all been through,” she explains. “That is just so comforting in itself.”

Ione has participated in many festivals and competitions throughout the years, including competing in the 2023 International Dragon Boat Festival in New Zealand. And although she chooses to race, she encourages women to join the Dragon Divas even if they choose not to paddle. 

The Dragon Divas offers a variety of activities, committees and crews women can join.

“They can help out and still carry out the mission of the [Dragon] Divas, and not necessarily need the paddle,” she says.”

Becoming a Dragon Diva has restored Ione’s confidence by showing her friends and family there is life after cancer. The Divas are also a way for spouses and partners of the team to connect and support each other. 

“It showed them [family and friends] that women who had a diagnosis of cancer could really perform, win, paddle, look healthy, and do healthy things,” she says. “My husband met the spouses of the other people on the [Dragon] Divas. When we would do races, we have friends and family gatherings and the husbands get to meet each other. So it's a support group for him, too.”

Ione has no plans to stop paddling anytime soon and encourages women interested to join the team saying, “I would encourage anyone to give it a try because it has been so worth it in my life.”